Sečovlje Salina Nature Park

The Sečovlje salts flats are the northernmost salt flats in the Mediterranean. The salt is produced in the traditional way based on a 700-year-old method that harmonizes man and nature. Over the centuries, a unique habitat has formed for halophytic plants and animals and migrating birds. The cultural heritage, which reflects centuries of work by saltmakers, is extremely rich. 6,5 km2 (0,98 km2 dry land), no settlements in park

What the park offers you

• Walking and bicycle trails furnished with information signs. • Salt production that runs year-round. Most interesting from June to September when the crystallized salt is collected from the saltpans. • Lera Salt Shop in a restored salt flat building. The ground floor houses a shop selling salt, salt-related items, and other local products. The second floor hosts art exhibitions. • Buildings with theatre showing films about the salt flats, a multimedia room, and a viewing platform. • Bird watching. Fontanigge, the southern section of the park, is an area of exceptional natural significance where white herons stroll between the remains of saltmakers’ houses and seagulls fly overhead. To reach the entrance to this part of the park, cross the Sečovlje border control point and just before the bridge over the Dragonja River, turn right onto the road that runs a good four kilometers along the estuary to the mouth of the river. • The Saltworks Museum demonstrates the traditional medieval method of producing salt and a view of a traditional saltmaker’s house. The museum is open from April 1 to October 31.

The two sections of the park, Lera (north) and Fontanigge (south), are separated by the Drnica River, and different entrances must be used. Guided tours for groups can be arranged in advance.

Access to the park:The Sečovlje Salina Nature Park is 130 kilometers from Ljubljana. In addition to arriving by car, access to the park is also possible by boat from Piran (for reservations, call +386 (0)31 653 682). There is no public transportation from Portorož.

Information Center Lera Information Center, Seča 115 In the warm half of the year, the park is open from 8:00 to 20:00; in winter, from 8:00 to 17:00. Entrance fee is collected at the entrances to the park.

On the short Slovenian Coast there are today only few coastal wetlands, pertaining to the short deltas of the Istrian rivers and brooks. At one time there were more, as the delta marshes and bays were shaped into the salt pans, which were to be found on the verges of all the coastal towns (salt pans in Koper, Izola, Strunjan, Lucija and Sečovlje). Nowadays the salt pans exist only in Strunjan and Sečovlje, beside these can be considered as the coastal marsh wetlands the Strunjan lagoons (Stjuža and Pretočna), both Fiesa lakes, Škocjan marshes and the delta of river Rižana. All the Slovenian coastal wetlands are thus the work of human endeavour, but still in concordance with nature. The Sečovlje salt pans are today the largest coastal marsh wetlands (650 hectares), and at the same time the most important Slovenian locality from the ornithological point of view. The variety of the bird species on this area, under the aspect of nesting and wintering, is much larger than on any other comparable locality of the kind. Until present date 272 bird species have been established in the Sečovlje salina, with some 90 breeders among them. On the basis of these facts, the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in the year 2001 proclaimed the area of Sečovlje Salina a nature park and the Museum of Salt-making a cultural monument of national importance. In 1993, the Salina became the first Slovene wetland, inscribed on the list of internationally important marshes under the auspices of the Ramsar convention. The Salina is extremely important as an extraordinary assortment of various ecosystems, combined of transition forms between sea water, brackish, fresh water and land ecosystems.